It’s the combination of this collective roleplay with direct competition that makes the game so compulsive. As such, Blade Symphony is as close as you are likely to get to the fantasy of slowly becoming a master swordsman.

Assuming you're simply content with content, Ubisoft busies you with donkey work. [Jan 2014, p.110]

When the climactic concert rolls around, you'll be unlikely to complain about the touching yet hopeful note on which it goes out. [Issue#381, p.106]

Tales’ traditionally creative dungeon design comes to the rescue, giving each chapter a genuine sense of adventure as you anticipate what organic shimmers or high-tech gloss might be in store. [Apr 2006, p.90]

This is one hybrid genre piece that's ever so difficult to put down. [March 2019, p.116]

Arika reminds us that so little of our gaming relaxation time is actually spent relaxing, making this a healthy diversion that deserves recognition. [Jan 2008, p.88]

We were hoping for a passionate display of Square's rekindling love for the RPG craft. Instead, Sword of Mana hangs around its competitors in relative mediocrity instead of blazing the trail the SNES title did all those years ago. [Feb 2004, p.109]

Any semblance of subtlety is abandoned entirely when it comes to the playable Hero and Villain characters. [Jan 2016, p.110]

It never quite feels natural, and you'll quickly find yourself pining for another recent Housemarque release, Nex Machina. [Issue#311, p.120]

There's enough vim and vinegar to Sunday Gold's central gimmick that we wouldn't mind playing a sequel. [Issue#377, p.118]

The lead characters are abysmally designed. Waxen, ugly and uninspired, with more than a whiff of committee behind them, they're the most dislikeable aspect of an otherwise magnificent world. [Sept 2004, p.96]

It’s an enormously likeable package, and one which sets perhaps a much more valuable next-gen agenda: one of games which place a higher emphasis on player enjoyment than they do their own ambitions. [Jan 2005, p.84]

There are nice touches – cockroaches that scatter under your flashlight, the occasional puzzle, effective cutscenes – but there is little that you won’t have found implemented in a vastly more satisfactory form elsewhere. [May 2008, p.99]

Prinny sabotages the player's platforming with unsympathetic controls. [Aug 2009, p.106]

The Saboteur is an awesome display of clichés, stereotypes, shortcuts and failures in logic. [Jan 2010, p.86]

Area 51 is entirely without inspiration, an exercise in slick, crowd-pleasing cookie-cutter cliché from the Jerry Bruckheimer school of entertainment manufacture. It is absolutely not bad, almost never broken, and usually a good deal of fun. [July 2005, p.92]

Approached free of any expectations higher than endless, mindless single-button mashing, the kenpu collecting and scenery spotting can provide some limited enjoyment in smaller doses, but approached as an epic quest, Key Of Heaven is one better left untaken. [Mar 2006, p.94]

A tasteful translation of an enduring classic, but it remains too cautious to satisfy those looking for innovation. [May 2007, p.95]

Schneider's presentational style may be a little sterile for some tastes, but while his games may not have the same force of personality as Minter's, he demonstrates an equally astute mind for augmenting existing genres.

The result is like the game's own inventory puzzles: disparate notions combining to create ingenious and often surprising new forms. [Issue#369, p.119]

Salt and Sacrifice shrewdly builds upon its forerunner's groundwork - offering enough depth to enthral the most ardent admirers of the Soulslike genre, while its robust 2D platformer fundamentals make it much more approachable than many of its peers. [Issue#372, p.108]

Without seeking to damn a fine game with faint praise, another succinct design philosophy comes to mind: it just works. [Issue#372, p.100]

There are some gently taxing puzzles here, and just enough variety to keep the game ticking along, but the real surprise is just how winsome Docomodake’s fungi are, each section ending with a guilelessly warm celebration of family values. [Mar 2009, p.95]

At a time when science fiction has never been handled with more vim and vigour, Star Ocean threatens to miss out on all the fun of the genre resurgence through its total lack of ambition. [June 2009, p.92]

This is far, far more than a nostalgic return to form - instead, it's a game so adept at exploiting its own heritage that it can integrate thorough modernity into its design without denting its retro appeal in the slightest. [Sept 2006, p.78]

Underneath the mundane masculinity and grimy gun-toting clichés lies a heavily structured and well-considered score-attack game – one that’s worth excavating for all the short-lived interest it holds. [Feb 2008, p.88]

The meetings themselves are well realised, with the developer putting considerable effort into evoking the right kind of atmosphere. [Christmas 2007, p.99]

As gorgeous as it is, though, even a pair of 3D glasses wouldn't make the action any more entertaining to sit through. [Issue#393, p.106]

Isn't a game that does anything obviously or overtly clever or innovative. But any game that takes such a simple premise and polishes it, hones it and refines it until it's this engrossing, this absorbing, and this much fun, is quite obviously doing something very clever indeed. [Christmas 2003, p.114]

The net result is a product that can't be faulted on its accessibility, but has less subtlety than ever with which to hide the inherently, and sometimes unrelentingly, mechanical process that caring for your sims represents. [Mar 2007, p.85]

Rarely does dying feel like the player's fault and, in typical "Sonic Adventure" fashion, the best bits are when you find that the majority of control has been taken away from you, and you're flung around the world at escape velocity. [Mar 2004, p.105]

Under GungHo's auspice it has made its deepest game in years, and one of its most fascinating, too. [Feb 2017, p.118]

This is a game that’s as riotously entertaining as it is viciously random... It’s gleeful automobile slapstick, but not for anyone who values skill and achievement more than taking a wrecking ball to their opponents’ racing lines. [Dec 2005, p.114]

There was never any doubt that Total Overdose would fall foul of one of its genre's various pitfalls, but it's unfortunate that it ultimately had to be one as irksome as excessive length... At its best, the game still shakes up a loud and spicy Mexican cocktail, but what it’s added to the mix has been more than enough to weaken the taste. [Nov 2005, p.103]

While the overall blandness means Galactrix is unlikely to truly thrill many people, it also means that it won’t exclude anyone either, and the ever-reliable pattern-spotting blends with the steady trickle of meaningless rewards to exert a pull on its audience that is truly Pavlovian. [Apr 2009, p.125]

For all the spectacle of Resonance's gunfights, the game feels restrictive. It's a strategy game in which your tactical options are limited to one or two reliable strategies, and an RPG in which character development is chained to similar lines. [May 2010, p.96]

Rain’s core ideas remain frustratingly underdeveloped throughout, and it comes off more like a watercolour sketch than the oil painting that was promised.

Call Of Juarez has mined its source material well, collecting a wealth of imagery that it then squanders on lacklustre and dysfunctional gameplay. [Aug 2007, p.93]

The constant flow of new sights and well-thought-out puzzles that make up the bulk of the game provide more than enough motivation to see this rescue attempt through to the end.

There are some good laughs here, along with sporadic moments of showstopping spectacle. [Issue#422, p.102]

Apart from being an excellent reminder of its host’s graphical oomph, Tactical Strike is engrossingly detailed and generous, if not wide, in scope. [Jan 2008, p.91]

The Red Star is more of a red dwarf next to some of the more sharp-witted and unabashed action titles that have landed on PS2 in recent years, but one that's still capable of shininig. [May 2007, p.95]

Regrets? Team Ninja may have a few. It's chartered course doesn't seem particularly well planned, nor its steps along the byway especially careful - and it certainly bites off more than it can chew. Yet while this curious, distinctive spin-off may not be close to the finest hour for its developer nor this storied series, its' makers can stand tall knowing that, to paraphrase Ol' Blue Eyes, they did it their way. [Issue#371, p.108]

This closing chapter of the Dynasty Warriors series is admittedly a neat full stop, an exhausting book-end for the enthusiasts, but it offers exactly the same baby step forwards as every other sequel-cum-update. [Feb 2004, p.108]

Ultimately, owners of Sega GT should ask themselves whether a handful of new elements and the online component are worth the investment (even at the reduced price). [Feb 2004, p.107]

The plot may be filled with sub-Lynchian fumbles, but it weaves an intriguing story, while the charismatic muddle of awards that accompanies each solution goes some way to wiping away the grey memory of what you're actually being congratulated for.

Should a game about surviving an alcoholic, abusive parent be fun? Probably not. But it gains nothing from being wearying and frustrating.

Fans of Westeros will likely be delighted by Telltale's exploration of a formerly undocumented northern clan, but there's nothing here yet to match up to the greatness of The Walking Dead. [Feb 2015, p.112]

If only it played as well as it looks. [Issue#310, p.121]

From a game entitled Assemble With Care, we had really expected something with a bit more heart. [Issue#338, p.115]

The Chinese Room’s temporary stewardship of the series has resulted in an undoubtedly slicker experience, but one that comes at the cost of some of The Dark Descent’s memorable urgency. But there are as many gains here as there are losses.

This is a smart template for future fun, but the details need work. When it comes to getting this kind of game onto iOS then, Madfinger has, in more ways than one, done all the boring bits.

A bleak meditation on the idea that the most one can do in such difficult times is to keep your head down, and keep moving. [Sept 2017, p.116]

The good news for fans of 2005’s Playground Of Destruction is that Mercenaries remains an absolute blast. [Nov 2008, p.92]

Jokes are in short supply, as is the serene abstraction often associated with modern puzzle games. The platforming segments and spaced-out checkpoints might annoy the more cerebrally focused, but all told they're a fairly minor part of the game.

Sareth’s adventure does tire, however, during later moments when the game leaves you with neither an objective nor waypoint, but instead an arduous hunt for the next NPC trigger or gateway. [Christmas 2006, p.84]

The game requires very little of what its title suggests. (…) If you make a leap of deduction, the game won't proceed until your character, through exhaustive dialogue choices and object examinations, has caught up. [Feb 2011, p.98]

Unepic is a perfectly serviceable platform-RPG, but Unremarkable might have been a more apposite title.

Despite [North's] efforts, a couple of big laughs (the world's slowest lift; Drax's sincere literalism) and at least one genuine surprise, you're left with a gnawing sensation that Telltale's formula is becoming as creaky as its engine. And that's a feeling on which you're unlikely to get hooked. [July 2017, p.120]

Colourful, crafty, and cheerily free of ambitions, it's the perfect companion for a drowsy early morning commute.

A work of nostalgia. [December 2016, p.114]

This actual action is not rendered with nearly half the imagination or proficiency as the premise offers – and six hours of Remote-induced carpal tunnel syndrome and grim boss-battling overstay their welcome. [Mar 2009, p.91]

For such a costly flagship title to provide neither the promised statement of mainstream grown-up appeal nor even polished, lesser disposable thrills is a landmark failure. [May 2006, p.92]

Somewhere, Animal Crossing has mislaid its soul. [Issue#314, p.116]

There's not as much depth as Tetris or Puyo Puyo, but there's not much that disappoints about Bombastic apart from a rather lacklustre platform game that's been bolted on. The deeply involving puzzle mechanics brilliantly build on the foundations laid down by Devil Dice. [Christmas 2003, p.124]

This is a pizza-and-a-six-pack kind of game: sit back, crack open a cold one and get ready to grin your way through the most gleefully stupid 20-odd-hours you'll spend in front of a screen all year. [Christmas 2018, p.116]

Given that Smoke and Sacrifice's end point truly feels like it means something, it's heartbreaking that many will get stuck riding its mundane merry-go-rounds. [Aug 2018, p.110]

Aeterna Noctis retains enough of the best parts of its inspiration that it should satisfy undemanding players with time on their hands. [Issue#368, p.122]

The complaints that can be levelled at Superstars are real, but so is the magic it contains. When it works, Monkey Ball truly feels like you’re tilting the land, not moving the ball. When it works, Nights makes you think you can fly. [Dec 2005, p.112]

The result is restless and, in the context of Clank’s overalls story, incoherent. But it’s also vibrantly diverse. [Sept 2008, p.95]

Sonic 4 is neither straightforwardly heinous nor a glorious return to form. It's a beautiful homage, and on balance an enjoyable one, but things aren't as uncomplicated as you might hope.

Unlike iOS title The Room, here intricacy proves a weakness, and Open Me doesn’t have the rich atmosphere of Fireproof Games’ award-winning puzzler to compensate for its mechanical awkwardness.

What used to be a decent fighting game with comical breast physics is now a pervier DOA Xtreme with punches instead of presents. Honestly, we're getting a bit old for it, and so is the industry around it. [Issue#331, p.116]

The short-term gratification is gradually diminished by too-obvious regeneration of the damage you cause, and there's not enough variety of experience to sustain a monthly subscription. [June 2006, p.90]

There's nothing to stop a dedicated RPG fan from having a thoroughly good time but the Arc the Lad games have always had a derivative heritage and this is competent but sadly no different. [Sept 2003]

Seeing the game from beginning to end reveals its true artistic merit: it never gets stale; every episode has been drawn with minute care and attention. It would have been an incredible achievement if the gameplay had matched the outstanding art direction. [Dec 2003, p.94]

The battles, meanwhile, are engaging despite their simplicity, and it's beautiful to watch each turn play out. [May 2010, p.102]

Much has been sacrificed in service of making a brilliant central concept work, then - and yet it's the very thing robbing Legion of any star quality. [Issue#353, p.118]

The game carries you through its disappointments and annoyances on the back of its brilliantly realised microworld. [Feb 2009, p.88]

In its modest, unassuming way, it's gently profound, too. [Issue#352, p.116]

Army Of Two is relatively straightforward thirdperson shooter, focused on large-scale skirmishes and the dynamics of a two-man team. It’s serviceable enough in some regards. [Apr 2008, p.91]

But at least there's less of the narrative mush to wade through this time, and if we start to flag late on, much is forgiven when Unfinished Business grants us control of an ED-209. [Issue#414, p.122]

The memories of that abysmal story mode soon fade, and those prepared to put the hours in by themselves will find a game as fluid and flexible as any on the market. [Dec 2017, p.110]

Pac ‘N’ Roll is regrettably short and, with few rules to master, its replayability is quite limited. With the DS’s library rapidly expanding beyond minigame collections and touchscreen experiments it’s a tough sell, but as a fast, cheap diversion there’s enough simple fun in exploration to make it worthwhile. [Nov 2005, p.113]

None of this is nearly enough to spoil everything Scarlet and Violet get right, such as some of the best (and downright strangest) monster designs in some time, and absorbing final act and postgame, and a soundtrack that could well be a new series peak. [Issue#380, p.121]

Dig beneath its cutesy surface and you'll find a small but tasty crop that's well worth harvesting. [Issue#359, p.117]

A simple bloodsport, and only a rudimentary level-up system affords any sense of progression. [Aug 2009, p.106]

It becomes, in the very best sense, an anarchic fetch quest played by Takahashi's whimsical rules. [Issue#341, p.114]

This is no Guitar Hero, or even a rhythm-action game, but something more akin to a portable notepad for musicians. [Nov 2007, p.97]

Though the stage design is carefully plotted to the last pixel, there’s little room for deviation – and none for the ultimate three-star prize. As such, it’s a case of brute-forcing the solution over dozens of repeated attempts, a process that feels less engaging here than in some of its peers.

As a whole, it is undeniably well meaning and generous, and the individual pieces work well enough, but somehow we find ourselves wishing there was a little less game in this reserve. [Issue#402, p.118]

A Frankenstein’s monster that actually works. Its mind is sound, its looks beautiful, its sutures invisible and its stolen parts functional in all the intended ways. It has no soul, of course, nor distinct personality, but that’s the nature of the beast. [May 2008, p.88]

The Splatters ultimately feels as much like the heir to Trials HD as to Rovio's feathery world-beater. Maybe it belongs on XBLA after all.

The enthusiastic shouts that greet immaculate performances may be too generous a reception for Symphonica, but this disarmingly good-natured game is certainly worthy of appreciative applause.

We can't help wondering if a narrowing of scope, instead of crowbarred-in construction mechanics or a baffling option to interact with NPCs that function like in-world AI chatbots, may have given this fiction real room to breathe. For now, there are too many winds blowing in different directions. [Issue#418, p.108]

There's a genuine sense of storybook adventure to proceedings, which a limited budget and uninspired enemies can't quite erode. [Christmas 2010, p.91]

A charming adventure, and a lengthy one, but the overwhelming amount of rough edges rather spoil any indulgent feelings toward its foibles. [Aug 2009, p.99]

Haunted Hollow’s charismatically ghoulish visuals can, at times, make for a cluttered board, and its decision to hide certain units and items behind micro-transactions grants those who pay more tactical breadth. Accept this last point in particular and there’s fun to be had with Haunted Hollow, but Firaxis’ creepy monsters can’t quite compete with its extra-terrestrial threats.